Blackburn: ZHS may get another shot at Chillicothe

Feb. 22, 2007

Written by

Sports Writer

SAM BLACKBURNSports Writer

Chillicothe claimed one against Zanesville last weekend at the Southeast Ohio Athletic League's Day of Champions, handing the Blue Devils an stinging overtime loss in the championship game.

Afterward, the jubilant Cavs celebrated like a state title was on the line. They jumped around at midcourt with their students. You'd have thought Zanesville was Oak Hill Academy.

Frankly, it looked like the game meant a lot more to Chillicothe than Zanesville.

The Cavs played a fine game. They exploited one of the few weaknesses the Blue Devils had - an inability to rebound against taller, more athletic competition. And not many teams are more athletic than the Blue Devils.

The Cavs won despite missing 19 of 22 free throws, a statistic so unfathomable, you truly had to be there to believe it really happened.

To shoot like that, and still find a way to win against a team like Zanesville, tells you how well the Cavs played in other areas. They shot around 50 percent, grabbed 22 offensive rebounds and turned the ball over just seven times. You'll win a lot of games with numbers like that.

More importantly, their defense forced Zanesville to shoot a lot of jumpers as the game progressed, and normally dazzling point guard Cedric Harris wasn't able to consistently penetrate like he had in so many games before.

That's the kind of night the Cavs had. Offensively and defensively, they had a whole lot go right, and Zanesville picked a bad night to misfire on a lot of open shots from the perimeter.

Will Zanesville get a chance to redeem itself? You know they would love to, especially after being accused by one Chillicothe player of "ducking" the first matchup.

File that one away for later, which very well could happen with the talent on these two teams.

Chalk this one up to what Chillicothe did right, rather than what the Blue Devils did wrong. But the fact they were often overpowered on the offensive glass - just like they were in a loss at Cleveland St. Ignatius - is disturbing, if not alarming.

As Zanesville coach Scott Aronhalt said afterward, it wasn't the total rebounds that told the story, rather than the timing of the offensive boards.

Second-chance points are the ultimate demoralizer. There is nothing worse for a defense than to force a low-percentage shot, only to watch someone grab the miss and stick it back for an easy score. That happened countless times against Chillicothe.

It's no small coincidence that in Zanesville's two losses, it was beaten on the offensive glass. Defense and rebounding go together like high school sweethearts, but they were bickering with each other in those two games.

And a possible meeting with East Central Ohio League power Dover, providing the Blue Devils get past New Philadelphia on Saturday, and the Tornadoes can get through John Glenn or West Holmes, could be right around the corner.

Zanesville is more than capable of responding. It has one of the best players in Ohio in multi-faceted Logan Aronhalt, an All-Ohioan in shooting guard Kodey Haddox and a prototype point guard in Harris. And Dakota Matz is an unselfish stopper on defense whose offensive production has made this team even better than a year ago.

But the team can't afford another showing on the boards like the one against Chillicothe.

It's anyone's guess whether the Cavs can play another game like it did against Zanesville, but they certainly have the talent it takes to be in the regional. In many ways, that game at Logan had the feeling of a tournament game. There was definitely regional-caliber talent on display.

If they meet again, you can bet the Cavs will have Zanesville's complete focus.